Early Mornin’ Music Rocks Panthers!

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by Emily Thouless, St. Peter’s Catholic Secondary School

How would you like to start your school year? Would you join a club? Try out for some school sports? Make new friends? Well, how about being the DJ of your own morning radio show for the whole school to hear!? St. Peter’s Catholic Secondary School in Barrie, Grade 12 art student Shelly has been doing just that. Her radio show “Petey Panther Talks” debuted in the first few days of school, and since then has only been getting better each day. Shelly’s cheery attitude and beautifully corny puns make her the perfect radio host to get everyone into the right kind of mood before the start of another school day.

While Shelly may be a radio host now, she’s spent most of her years at St. Peter’s on the stage, participating in two Sears Drama and Music Festival performances and starring in last year’s school production of “Elf Junior”. She says that although she’s never thought about going into radio production before, this year she wanted to open new horizons and try something new. Shelly wants to leave her mark on the school before her eventual graduation in June. When she was offered the opportunity to host her very own radio show she just couldn’t refuse, saying “I can talk about whatever I want, play the songs I love, and just have fun! It’s absolutely brilliant and all I hope is that everyone’s having just as much fun as I am.”

The radio show began as an idea presented by Mrs. Oliver, the school’s Communication Technologies teacher, and has slowly but surely grown into a breeding ground for creativity, with Shelly taking the lead on everything surrounding the radio project. She’s not just in charge of all the technology involved with the production but has also taken on the responsibility of handling daily scripts, morning announcements, club and birthday shout-outs, and daily song requests. She has even started to do themed music days with last Friday being the first of many “Disney Themed Fridays”. And although she has to wake up extra early every day to make her 7:40 to 8 a.m. runtime, she does so every morning with a smile on her face and the tools she needs to succeed.

Shelly has been overwhelmed by the positive response from everyone in the school about her daily radio show. People all over the school are thankful for the early morning announcements that are often ignored in the middle of class, and many are already lining up to help her co-host or share creative ideas for future radio broadcasts. Shelly has started something wonderful at St. Peter’s. And even after she graduates it seems that as long as the school has a working P.A. system and a hardworking radio host, the Peter Panther radio show is here to stay.